Camilla Jessen
“Take it down,” said Mamdani.
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is already facing political headwinds just days after his historic victory.
The Queens-based democratic socialist, now set to become the city’s first South Asian and Muslim mayor, is being criticized for an old photo showing him flipping off a statue of Christopher Columbus in Astoria.
The tweet, captioned “Take it down,” was originally posted during his run for State Assembly in 2020 and has resurfaced, sparking a fresh wave of debate.
Italian American groups, including the Columbus Heritage Coalition, condemned the tweet, calling it disrespectful.
“If you offend one community, you offend all communities,” said Angelo Vivolo, the group’s president.
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“He is not the victim”
Conservative figures like Joe Piscopo and Joey Salads joined in, branding Mamdani’s actions anti-Italian and divisive. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, now Mamdani’s political rival, accused him of stoking identity-based tension.
“He is not the victim,” Cuomo said. “He is the offender.”
Mamdani has not responded publicly to the renewed attention on the tweet, which many left-leaning supporters have defended. “The more you learn about Columbus, the more you realize he was a piece of s—,” one user commented on X.
Italian Americans make up around 8% of NYC’s population, and some leaders argue that removing Columbus statues erases their cultural heritage. Others say it’s time to re-examine Columbus’s legacy, particularly his treatment of Native Americans.
This was reported by Newsner.
